School House Shock: Bias Against Blacks Often Starts in the Classroom
After riots erupted across Baltimore in the wake of Freddie Gray’s death, the unrest in Charm City was quickly compared to the uprising in Ferguson, Missouri. After all, both events were precipitated by alleged police violence against unarmed young men. However, when the officers charged in Gray’s death were arrested and their mug shots released, people quickly realized Baltimore was not Ferguson.
Unlike Ferguson, Baltimore boasts a black mayor, a black police commissioner, a black state’s attorney, and a sizeable black presence in law enforcement. Although Ferguson’s police department is just 5.6 percent black, African Americans make up approximately 44 percent of Baltimore’s ranks, and half of the officers charged in Gray’s death are black. In spite of its high-ranking African American officials, Baltimore has paid $5.7 million in police brutality settlements, primarily to blacks, since 2011.
So what gives? A new study examining unconscious bias against African Americans in the school system may explain why racial tensions run high in communities like Baltimore, even when many of those in positions of power are black. ...
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